Memory controller
The Memory Controller is a crucial hardware component responsible for managing access to physical memory. It acts as the bridge between the CPU and RAM, ensuring that memory requests from the processor are handled correctly. Most notably it will map whatever physical RAM you have into one contiguous memory region for the Memory Management Unit (MMU) to use. There are different types of memory controllers:
- Northbridge Memory Controller: Separate from the CPU.
- Integrated Memory Controller (IMC): Integrated onto the CPU.